The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Is It Back to Square One for Libya? - Pete Hoekstra

by Pete Hoekstra

U.S.
policy in Libya may come full circle, turning to a strongman to restore
stability that was shattered when Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown.

This article was written forU.S. News and World Report. IPT Senior Shillman Fellow and former U.S.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra discusses how U.S.
policy in Libya may come full circle, turning to a strongman to restore
stability that was shattered when Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown.

The U.S. News article begins here:President Barack Obama recently admitted
that his biggest mistake in office was "probably failing to plan for
the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in
Libya." Tell us something we don't know.At least he moved significantly further than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who valiantly claims that the Libyan intervention represented U.S. "smart power at its best," that the country administered two successful elections in which they voted moderates into office and that "we didn't lose
a single person" in the conflict. The families of Ambassador Chris
Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty – the four Americans
murdered in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 – would likely disagree with her
assessment.

Libya persists in an ongoing disaster that could have, and should have, been avoided.

Moammar Gadhafi crystallized the threats to his regime – which were
the same radical jihadists who endangered the U.S. – when I met with him
on three separate occasions between 2004 and 2009. Recently released
transcripts of telephone conversations
between former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gadhafi in 2011
reveal that the dictator presented similar arguments on the threat to
Europe.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff
reportedly highlighted evidence to the president that revealed no
indications of an impending genocide if Gadhafi endured. They warned
that removing him would serve no compelling American interest and that
it would open the doors to forces aligned with al-Qaida.

It appears that the president not only did not plan for the "day
after" the military campaign – when the threats of a post-Gadhafi Libya
had already been articulated – he discounted critical advice and
insights leading to the strongman's deposition and the likely resulting
catastrophe.

The most serious mistake is that five years after initially "failing to plan," no strategy exists
today on how to contain the threat posed by the Islamic State group and
like-minded groups in North Africa. For perhaps the first time,
terrorists – not only state sponsors such as Iran and Syria – control real estate and infrastructure.As documented in a recent Investigative Project on Terrorism analysis,
the Islamic State group has created a caliphate in Sirte along the
Mediterranean in Libya that exports weapons, fighters, ideology, death
and destruction throughout Africa, into Europe and eventually to North
America.

An Islamic State group coterie of lethal and battle-hardened veterans
of Iraq and Afghanistan operates from the Islamist bazaar in the Derna
area of eastern Libya. Known as Katibat al-Battar, it recruited
Belgian-Moroccan Abdelhamid Abaaoud, whom authorities suspect as the orchestrator of the November terrorist massacre in Paris.

In other parts of Africa, Islamist organizations such as Boko Haram,
al-Shabab, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al-Sharia fight for
their own territory and dominance.

Furthermore, multiple reports indicate that the Islamic State group
and other jihadists are seeking to obtain the stockpiles of chemical
munitions captured after Gadhafi's downfall. Such groups have
demonstrated a willingness to use them.

Additional reports suggest that the administration and U.S. military
brass remains at odds over the next steps while the violence proceeds
nearly unmolested.

The Director of National Intelligence states the obvious when he says
that Islamist factions in Libya will continue to pose a challenge and a
threat while Obama refuses to deploy the resources necessary to
decimate them.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi warns
the West against intervening militarily again, lest Libya slide further
into anarchy. He counsels it to strengthen the army of Libya's
fledgling but internationally recognized attempt at a unity government
and enable it to stabilize the country.

El-Sissi unfortunately might offer the most rational recommendation.
In plain English, one could interpret his admonishment as advocating for
the West to arm a new strongman to run the country so that he can
corral the nihilistic Islamist terrorists.

That such a strategy would return the conflict to where it began five
years ago – except that it now might feature a slightly kinder and
gentler version of Gadhafi – is a sad manifestation of how much things
stayed the same after all the bloodshed and chaos.Pete Hoekstra is the Shillman Senior Fellow with the Investigative Project on Terrorism, the former chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee and the author of "Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya."Source: http://www.investigativeproject.org/5334/is-it-back-to-square-one-for-libya Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.